


Deck the 'Watch

by TallFlower



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, F/F, F/M, Fluff, M/M, tags will change as I go on
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-11 13:44:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8982307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TallFlower/pseuds/TallFlower
Summary: As Christmas grows near our heroes must deck the halls with holly to ensure a great day for everyone in Gibraltar.





	1. Behind Schedule

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our lovely snipers aren't feeling the holiday spirit this year. But never fear there's a plan afoot to help them out! Featuring; a stressed dragon man, shitty Christmas mugs, sarcasm, Mariah Carey, and Genji and Lena being dorky fourth-wheelers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Merry Christmas everyone! And a happy New Year! This is my main contribution to McHanzo Week. Today's theme is Season Holidays and I thought this would be the perfect excuse to write a few drabbles that were in my mind. There's a bit of SpiderByte in here, too, but I have something bigger planned for those two later.

Hanzo Shimada’s eyes flickered open as soon as he began to realize something was off.

Beforehand the older archer was in a deep sleep, so it took a few moments for the rest of his senses to catch up with his mind. When he was fully awake he began to notice odd details. The sun filtered through the cheap blue curtains of his room, illuminating the room in a gentle hue. The chill of winter was deep in his bones despite the layers upon layers of blankets Ana insisted everyone have. Everything was serene, quiet. It was although time itself had stopped due to the cold. 

This is what made him suspicious.

It was _too_ peaceful.

He took a quick glance at the digital clock by the nightstand. 9:43. Saturday morning. He already had an idea of what was odd about the morning, but the archer still turned over to his other shoulder to confirm his theory. As he had suspected; no McCree. The man’s side of the bed was sloppily made, the covers reaching over his pillow. 

 _It seems the tables have turned_ , he though as he slipped from the bed to dress himself. On a typical day at Gibraltar, Hanzo would rise with the sun so that he could go out for a morning jog. After a quick shower and breakfast he’d return to the dorm to find McCree still snoozing so he’d force himself to wake the gunslinger up. Part of him hated doing that as McCree always looked so peaceful, however the more sensible part of him knew that if left to his own devices he’d sleep for a week. When the man was finally up and they had done their shooting he’d get stuck into whatever work was required of him that day. Be it a chore, a job, or a mountain of paperwork.

Already this day was upsetting his usual routine.

The archer left his dorm wrapped in his coat around his body and tied his shoes, hoping he’d at least have a quick run before his other duties took hold. He stalked down the halls with his hands in his pockets. He had been feeling sluggish the past few weeks and today was no different – it had gotten to the point when Jesse had asked him if he was growing ill. The gunslinger had claimed that he “seemed out of it”. And indeed he did feel out of it. He was definitely not as sharp as he normally was, though he couldn’t pin-point exactly what was wrong with him. His aim seemed a little off, he was more prone to mood swings, and he barely remembered even getting into bed that night.

Did McCree even sleep beside him last night?

The thought gave him pause.

Yes, he did; he vaguely remembered crawling over him to get to his side of the bed, trying to not disturb him. Though he wasn’t sure if he was successful or not.

“You’re just wasting energy,” Hana had told him a few days before, her eyes glued to the pink holo-pad she held in her hands. At the time he couldn’t make out what she was doing but he suspected she was either uploading footage from the latest mission or texting some of her former teammates back in Korea. “You’re exactly like the doctor – you both run around like headless chickens in the early morning, stress yourselves out throughout the day, don’t go to bed until late at night, and wonder why you’re tired the next morning as you repeat the cycle.”

She was not the only one to make such a blatant comment such as that. Zenyatta did too. Scratch that; Zenyatta decided to give the archer an entire lecture upon it. After missing his seventh consecutive meditation session the omnic monk came floating into the room where Hanzo was reading over a few files. “You must find a better work ethic, my pupil,” he had warned. “I fear that you are once again slipping into bad habits. Ones that will tip the careful balance you have achieved. How long has it been since you’ve had a full night’s sleep?”

By now he has missed twenty sessions.

Both times he scoffed at them, saying he had much more important things to do then sleep or joke around. There were missions to plan, debates to be made, files to sort out, training to have, and goals to complete. Look at what sleeping in had gotten him into; he was already behind on his schedule. Now he’d have to stay up even later to catch up.

With a jam of a button the door to the common room slid open, with Athena’s soothing voice welcoming him through the unseen speakers. “Good morning, Agent Shimada.”

“And to you too, Athena.”

As he walked past the kitchen he noticed Amélie standing by the counters on her own, stirring a mug of tea in her hands with a tiny spoon. Surprisingly enough she was still dressed in her pyjamas – white with multi-coloured poka-dots, matching with her slippers. Her violet hair poured down her back like a river, free from its usual ponytail. As he passed she looked over her shoulder, their eyes locking. “Care to join?” she asked, her voice flat. She held her mug in offering. It was a tacky red thing with blotchy brown reindeers decorated on it, dancing in circles together in the snow.

If you had told him a year or two ago that the fearsome Talon agent Widowmaker would one day stand before him in her pyjamas with a painfully cheesy looking mug offering him tea as a sign of friendship he would have laughed in your face. Yet here they were.

Hanzo couldn’t hold back a smirk as he took up her proposal. Though one half itched to leave and begin the day, the other much larger half begged for him to sit down for a while. Besides he liked talking to her. Though they didn’t have the most meaningful of conversations, Amélie was always welcomed company in his books. Her dry, sarcastic humour matched his own – ensuring that with the perfectly timed quip they could begin an epic match of insults.

Once the tea was made (black, her favourite) they poured it into a mug (this one had a festive pink turkey on it) and settled down on the nearby couch.

“I would like to congratulate you on not looking as horrible as you normally do,” she said, propping her feet upon the small table before them. “Trying to impress anyone?”

“Not particularly.” Hanzo blew a gentle breath into the drink, cooling it down before taking a sip. He made a point of quickly skimming up and down her attire. “What’s your excuse for looking like you just rolled out of bed?”

“My excuse is that I did just roll out of bed, _mon amie_.” She rolled her head from side to side, stretching her neck. “Shouldn’t you be with your cowboy?”

For some odd reason, Hanzo felt a prickle of annoyance at the question. “Shouldn’t you be with your little internet virus?” he shot back. Immediately realizing the venom behind his tone he apologized to her. “That was... that was too far. I didn’t mean…”

There was a long pause before a low chuckle escaped her lips. “My little virus indeed,” she murmured into her mug. After another mouthful she said, “She’s helping the others with something. Last time I saw her she was being dragged out of our room by Lena. If my hearing was correct I do believe McCree was with them. ”

 _Ahhh, so that’s where he disappeared to_ , he thought. While that answered one question, several more opened up. Why would he be with Sombra? The two were on civil grounds, sure, however it never seemed like it would ever gravitate further than that. Was a job being planned? Did Sombra do something to anger the two? He wouldn’t rule out that possibility. She was reckless. Vain. A dangerous combination, everyone knew. A combination that could easily land herself into deep trouble. “Any reason in particular?”

“I haven’t a clue. They could be plotting our murders for all I know.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it, considering.”

“You have been in a rather sour mood recently. Trouble in paradise?”

“You could say that,” he admitted, setting his mug down. He drummed his fingers against its sleek surface. “I’ve been snapping over the stupidest of things. Just last night I gave out to Reinhardt for roughly half an hour because he left an old newspaper on the counter.”

“That does sound incredibly stupid.”

“Yes I realize that. Thanks.”

“How did you argue about something so petty for such a long time?”

“I honestly have no idea. I barely remember what I said. Maybe Hana was right. Maybe I am stressed. I need to relax. Or get some more sleep. Or something else. I don’t know.” He rubbed his face with a hand. _Maybe I should prioritize my meditation with Zenyatta once again._ _Try and have a session before or maybe after practice…_

Amélie tilted her head to the side. “This is fascinating.”

“What’s so fascinating might I ask?”

“You are getting stressed by thinking about how to not get stressed. This endless paradox that you have created for yourself is a marvel to behold. As an idle viewer I’d like to thank you for the opportunity to witness such incredible feats.”

Deciding to ignore her remark, he set his mouth in a hard line. “Maybe I should follow Zenyatta’s example and,” he cleared his throat slightly before doing his best impression of the omnic monk (which wasn't very good unsurprisingly),  “ _Experience festivity._ ”

This sent the young woman snickering. “I don’t believe you. He doesn’t say that.”

“I’m shocked you haven’t heard of it by this stage. He’s been repeating it since the beginning of December.” He sighed. “I suppose he’s lucky in many ways. A lot of people are. Genji had always been strangely fascinated with the holiday even before joining Overwatch. Back then I assumed he only enjoyed it for the food. However on reflection I think it should have been a hint about his more naive and romantic side. It’s a time for loved ones and family. Unfortunately for me my family were a bunch of thugs and I never had time to relax or enjoy myself because of it.” He leaned forward to place his empty mug next her hers. “I guess you can say I never really gotten into the ‘spirit of Christmas’.”

“I can empathize with that. With not being able to enjoy Christmas, that is,” she said, piquing his interests. He raised an eyebrow, an action she correctly believed indicated that he wished to hear more. “Don’t get me wrong I am the happiest I’ve been in years, however… the winter has always been difficult for me. I tend to remember certain things around this time.”

Hanzo nodded his head. “I understand. Grief is grief. Its effects may lessen with age but it will always hurt, no matter how long it’s been.”

“Hm.” The sniper looked down into her mugs, churning the last few dregs before placing in on the table. “This conversation is oddly sobering. I dislike it. Can we move on?”

“ _God yes_.”

Just as the two were changing the subject the door slid open. Genji stepped through, holding a cardboard box within his arms and silver tinsel wrapped around his neck like a scarf. The younger Shimada was without his visor – in its place was a large, stupid grin. “Yo,” he chirped as he placed the box by Amélie’s feet with a light _thump_. “Mind helping me with these?”

Hanzo glared down at the box. “With what?” he questioned. With a flick of a hand he opened one of the box’s flaps. The first thing to come into sight was a fluffy electronic dog wearing a long hat. Its paws held a handcrafted sign reading _Merry Christmas!_ in cursive lettering. He tried not to roll his eyes. “Genji, no.”

“Oh come now, brother. Don’t be such a Scrooge.”

“If Winston didn’t approve of Angela’s Halloween party he’s not going to approve this.”

“I’ll have you know Winston has already agreed to it – specifically to make up after what happened at Halloween.” The younger Shimada plucked the dog out of the box and went to set it upon the kitchen table. “Now come on and help, old man. We need to move quickly. Torbjörn’s family is coming over tomorrow and we have to make sure the place is decorated by then.”

Hanzo looked over to Amélie. Surely she’d agree with him about how ridiculous this is. To his surprise she simply shrugged her broad shoulders as she rose from her seat. “If you can’t defeat them, join them,” she said as she reached over to the box, grabbing onto a clump of fairy lights so she could begin unraveling them.

The archer let out a defeated sigh as he too got up. “Bah humbug,” he mumbled as he picked up some stockings with cut-out characters such as a snowman wearing a top hat.

From the kitchen he heard Genji jeer victoriously. “That’s the – well, uh, not the desired spirit, but close enough.”

Hanzo merely grunted a reply.

After a few minutes rolled by in silence, Genji finally broke it when he came back from the kitchen. “Honestly, _anija_ , I have no idea how you’ll tell McCree that you hate Christmas. It’s going to break his heart. He _adores_ it. I remember one year he went around the Swiss Headquarters singing ' _Stop The Cavalry_ ' with Lena. He brought a trumpet and everything.”

The archer took a step back from the wall where he had hung the stockings. All five of them lined the wall with a long line of arching ribbons just above them, though he noticed he still had some ribbons leftover. "Remind me to buy ear plugs, then," he droned, taking a few steps towards the door. Maybe he could hang them there? He stared up at the top of the door, which was a good bit taller than him, and decided that he might have to find a stool. 

"I can't judge him. That Christmas I stole everyone's sweaters and decided to wear all of them at the same time. I overheated and I had to go to the medical bay until I cooled down." He heard Genji let out a long whistle after a bit of pondering. "Huh. '65 was such a weird year. I remember Reyes was the one who managed to convince Reinhardt to— oh! Hanzo, take a look at this!”

The older Shimada brother tore away from his search and turned to face his brother, who was digging inside the box. With an exaggerated flourish and a quiet “ _tadaaah!_ ” he took out a small snow globe. Hanzo peered closer at the decoration when Genji had placed it in his hands. Within the glass bubble was a singular fir standing in the very center of a white hill. Little footprints could be seen imprinted on the ground in the attempt to make it seem like the world behind the glass was indeed alive. Like this was a moment in time forever captured in water and crystal. He shook the globe, sending little white specks swirling around the tree. He had to admit; the silly little knick-knack was… charming. He looked back at Genji, whose smile had only grown. 

Indeed. He was right. The holiday did feed into his childish nature.

Suddenly Amélie let out a gasp. “Oh _mon Dieu_. No.”

Hanzo swiveled his head to Amélie, who was staring at the door with eyes wide. He followed her line of sight to find a certain hacker with her arms raised above her head, holding onto the edge of the common room entrance. Her body was contorted in an awkward pose. The purple and pink of her hair was now a shade of white and mint green, her jacket a crimson coat with matching gloves and boots. Her legs resembled peppermint candies due to the stripy pattern of her new tights. “ _Mi pequeña araña_!” Sombra sang, fluting in long dark lashes. Just behind her was Lena, who was donned in a green elf suit; elf ears, spiked hat, tights, pointed shoes, and bells included. With each step her outfit clinked a little tune. She lined herself on the other side of the door, trying to do a similar pose. She gave a cheeky wink to everyone in the room.

As Amélie’s face dropped into the palm of her hand, Hanzo began to chuckle. Oh this was going to be good. He could tell.

Lena shot her two index fingers to the sky like a pair of guns. “Hit it, Athena!”

“Initializing music request,” was Athena’s cool response.

The intro of the song had a soft, twinkling piano piece. It was familiar to him, but he couldn’t quite place where he had heard it before. Abruptly a woman’s voice drowned out the piano. And as the woman began to sing, he saw someone else come through the door.

He almost dropped the snow globe when he saw who it was.

Lip syncing with the woman in the song McCree appeared in the center of the two women, dressed similarly to Sombra except with a black top hat and some fake glasses with golden rims that clashed horribly with the rest of the outfit. There was a loud holler and whistle from Genji as the cowboy danced over to where Hanzo stood, crossing his legs together with every step he took. “ _I just want you for my own—_ ”

He placed the snow globe on the table. “Jesse…” he warned.

“ _More than you could ever know—_ ”

He tried again, but he cut himself short by his own laughter. “Jesse McCree I swear…”

“ _Make my wish come truuuuue—_ ” Before he could protest further Jesse hooked an arm around the archer’s waist and lifted him off of the floor. “Yer comin’ with me, darlin’,” was all he said while sweeping Hanzo off of his feet, holding him close to his chest. He had no other choice but to grip tightly to his shoulders as he moved them to the center of the room.

Beside them Sombra had also shimmied toward the embarrassed Amélie, who was trying to hide her all-encompassing blush with her hands. The hacker peeled them away however, and held her hand in her own. “Dance with me, my _ciruela_ ,” she exclaimed, bopping her hips to the beat. “Come on! I know you can do it!” Eventually after a bit more cooing the sniper began to also dance along, allowing Sombra to lead. From the quick glimpse Hanzo took of them their foreheads were pressed together, nose touching nose.

Genji and Lena were also dancing, though more at each other than with. Lena swirled on the spot with a leg kicking outwards while one a wrist spun in the air. His brother on the other hand was doing some odd shuffle. At some point he unwrapped the tinsel around his neck and began flicking it about like a ballet dancer. Something about how he gave a knowing wink at Lena told him that he might have had some insight to what was going to happen. _The bastard was distracting us._ That's was why he showed Hanzo the snow globe. He didn't want him to see them at the door. 

Try as he might to be mad at all of their scheming, he didn't have the heart. Though he’d never admit it out loud, this was a lovely diversion from the schedule. All the archer could do at that moment was laugh at the silliness of it all and bury his face in McCreee's chest as they danced for the rest of the song. "Hey! There we go!” the gunslinger exclaimed, deciding to loop an arm underneath his legs so he could carry him. “There’s my Hanz! I knew this would cheer ya up!”

"You are insane!" he managed to say through the giggling.

"Yeah I know! It's why ya love me!"

Well, Hanzo couldn't argue with that. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't spoil, but next chapter features a lot of Symmarah and a tiny bit of Reaper76. I don't know how many chapters I'm going to do (possibly three), but this is only supposed to be a few Christmas-themed drabbles to perk up my mood (and hopefully yours too). 
> 
> If you have any questions or want to drop a comment feel free to do so here or on my Tumblr: http://thetallirishflower.tumblr.com/ Thank you for reading I hope you enjoyed!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Watchpoint: Gibraltar is almost ready for the arrival of Christmas day, and Jack, Ana, and Angela are expected to come back from heir overseas mission any hour now! While everyone at base is putting up the finishing touches Satya, Pharah, and Gabriel are buying some food. However one important present needs collecting. Featuring; near murder attempts, coupons, burying your feelings, bad driving, and surprise bonding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the wait. You see I was roughly half-way done and then I heard of Carrie Fisher's death. She was a very important figure in my life and I won't lie I was very emotional when I got the news. Then I got more bad news and more and more and more... you get the idea. Because of this I wasn't exactly in the mood to write. But you needn't worry; I'm okay now. My thoughts are with her darling daughter, Billie, and the rest of her family. I hope that you all have a lovely day today and that 2017 will be kind to you. This chapter mainly features Sympharah with splashes of Reaper76. And just a heads up; I did a tiny bit of editing in the last chapter.

They had been standing in line for what felt like forever and Faheera knew it was only a matter of time before Gabriel busted out his shotguns.

The old commander stood in the que with his arms crossed over his chest, glaring as the family ahead of them placed their groceries on top of the counter to be scanned. She saw his talon-like fingers drum on his biceps. Though his skeletal mask hid his face, she knew he was scowling like a child. (A very intimidating child at that.)

“Cheer up, Gabe,” she said, lightly nudging his side with an elbow in a pitiful attempt to lighten the mood. “We’ll be out of here soon.”

“You said that twenty minutes ago,” he droned.

From the tone in his voice she knew she probably shouldn’t push it. Instead she turned her head to Satya, who had her head buried in her handbag. She could hear her mutter under her breath. Ever since they had gotten in the line she had been daggering around in search of something. Every time Faheera tried to ask about it her questions fell on deaf ears. Quite simply Satya was too wrapped up in trying to find whatever was lost to her. Which was fine by Faheera – she understood that the light-architect had difficulty multitasking. She was only concerned that she might drive herself in a tizzy if she didn’t find what she wanted. She hated seeing her stressed.

As predicted the family in front of them moved on, allowing the three heroes to finally check out their things. With the tip of her foot Faheera pushed along the baskets that were on the floor as she walked towards the counter, setting down the ones in her arms with a soft _umph_. Behind her Gabriel took out the checklist from the pocket of his hoodie and with a cough began reading it out.

“Do we have the cider?”

“Yes!” she said, plucking the bottles from the plastic and scanning it through.

“Turkey, beef, and prawns?”

“Another yes for all three!”

As they went down the list Faheera couldn’t help but notice the rising number on the screen. With each item it seemed to get higher and higher, making her even more nervous as they went along. There were over twenty-three different people they had to feed with all varying dietary needs – and only more were coming with the arrival of Torbjörn’s wife and children, Emily, and several others.

When they were finished Faheera winced at the final price.

Gabriel leaned in and began to shiver. “That’s a disgusting amount of zeroes.”

“T’is the season,” she said, digging into the pocket of her jeans to produce her wallet. Though she winked and smiled at him, worry still tickled her mind. Would she still have enough for the –?

With a joyous cry Satya took out a little book from the depths of her bag and held it as though it was some rare treasure. And upon closer inspection it practically was; for in her hands was a booklet filled with coupons.

Gabriel took the booklet from her hand and read through it, grumbling as he began to scan them in. It was like watching a magic show – the number started to dwindle down until eventually they ran out of suitable cards. But that didn’t matter, because much to her relief she saw the price had dropped considerably. It was still expensive, though she knew for certain that she was in the clear to buy Satya’s gift.

Faheera couldn’t help but rope her arm around the light-architect’s waist, pulling in closer to her side. “What would I do without you?”

Satya merely smirked as her answer.

Just as Gabriel glanced at them Faheera was leaning in for a quick kiss, so scoffed and turned his back on them as he packed away the food back into the bags. “Ugh. Affection.”

 

xXx

 

“Alright, so, meet back here at seven?”

“Sure,” was Gabriel’s gurgled reply. Before Faheera could say anything else, he hopped out of the passenger seat and slammed the car door behind him. There was a muffled “bye, losers,” as he strode off out of the car park, disappearing in a cloud of black smoke.

She rolled her eyes as popped open her car door. Her mother was right. It was like being stuck with a teenager in the middle of his goth-punk phase. Except this phase decided to stretch out for _years_ and only got worse as time passed.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t like my assistance?” Satya asked. She was fixing the strap of her shoulder bag. A cloud of white streamed from her mouth with each word, making her nose wrinkle. As soon as the straps were no longer twisted she tugged the scarf Ana had made especially for her over her jaw. It was so freaking adorable to watch Faheera nearly melted. “I might have more coupons.”

“Your coupons have saved me already today,” she insisted. “Besides, I’m pretty sure this place wouldn’t accept them.”

Satya sighed. “Very well then. Until seven, my love.”

“Until seven,” Faheera repeated, watching Satya’s back as she walk away.

That left her with twenty minutes. Now was her chance.

Within a few minutes she was at the store, panting softly from the run _. Please let it still be here_ , she prayed as she pushed the door open. A little golden bell chimed above her head as she entered. Her eyes scanned the brightly lit room until she found it. Trying to keep her cool, Faheera straightened her back and swaggered to the glass case.  She caught the attention of an omnic is a smart, tidy black suit who asked if she’d like some assistance. “I would very much like to purchase this,” she announced to him, pointing a finger to what was inside the glass.

“Certainly, madam.”

The omnic opened the case and took out what would soon be Satya’s gift. If she wasn’t a grown-ass military woman she would have been bouncing off the walls with excitement. But since she was and wanted to keep a calm image, she had to settle for beaming like an idiot. The omnic was even kind enough to wrap it in gorgeous silver paper and tie it with a red ribbon – “Free of charge, for the lucky lady,” he had said to her.

Once she was out of the store she glanced at her watch. Five more minutes. Faheera bit her lip. She still needed the decoys. _I’m sure they can wait a few minutes_ , she assured herself as she made her way deeper into the town.

 

xXx

 

“…Gabe I know you’re disappointed—”

“I’m a little more than disappointed!” Gabriel let out a frustrated groan. Like Faheera had arranged, he was back at the car at three. Just in time to get a call from Jack to say things were more complicated than any of them had realized. That there was a huge chance that he, Ana, and Angela might not be able to make it.  

“Look, we’re trying our best over here,” he had told him. “We didn’t know it was this bad – if we did we would have asked for more back-up to help lessen the load.”

“You should have done that anyway, _like I told you to_. But no, you insisted you three could handle it on your own and make it back in time.”

“Hey—”

“Save it, Morrison.” He leaned into the leather of the seat, knocking his head back. Though his vision wasn’t clear, he could still make out the shape of Vaswani who was coming back into the car park and making her way to the hover car. Selfish as it was he hoped something would slow her down or stop her altogether. All Gabriel wanted right then and there was to be alone.

There was a long pause – long enough to make Gabriel assume that he had hung up – before Jack spoke again; “Do you think I like the idea of spending another Christmas without you?”

He knew the answer. And the feeling was mutual. “I thought it would be different this year.”

“Yeah. I did too.” There was some muffling in the background, causing Gabriel to tilt his head in curiosity until Jack’s voice came back. “Hey, uh, you mind telling Faheera and Genji and everyone else? I know the two ladies would appreciate it.”

“What’s wrong with their throats that they can’t tell them themselves?”

“Reyes, they’re the only two support soldiers surrounded by two-dozen offensive squadrons. They don’t even have time for a piss let alone be able to make a heartfelt telephone call to their loved ones explaining why they’re not at home for Christmas.”

At that Gabriel couldn’t help but chuckle softly at that. He put his hand to his mask. “Fuck you, Morrison. You made me laugh.”

He could practically hear Jack grin from ear to ear. “Merry Christmas to you too.”

The door swung open and Satya plopped herself into the back seat, giving a quick nod to Gabriel as he tapped the screen of his phone to open an unread message. She had always been a little awkward around him – which was to be expected. Being an undead ex-Talon agent who tried to kill them on many occasions and all. The fact that he basically viewed Faheera as a daughter didn’t help. It was the same with McCree’s new man though admittedly he was harsher on him because it was amusing to watch such a self-proclaimed “tough guy” squirm (but then again he liked to mess with Genji as well so maybe it was a broader Shimada thing). Uneasiness was to be expected between them. She even refused to call him anything except for Commander Reyes. “ _Commander Reyes_ ” this “ _Commander Reyes_ ” that. True she was formal with everyone but she always seemed to crank it to eleven when it came to him.

Ana had asked him to break the ice just before she flew off. “She is a charming, intelligent young woman. She’s an important person in Faheera’s life – the two love each other very much. I want her to feel welcome into my family. And unfortunately my family includes you, Lord of Darkness. Be friendly.”

So he decided to do just that.

“Hey kid,” he said, looking over his shoulder. “Guess what?”

She blinked at him, startled by his acknowledgment of her existence. “…Yes?”

He began shuffling over to the driver’s seat, pushing himself over the gearstick to get there. Once seated he opened the flap just above his head and grabbed the keys that were beginning to slide. “Little Amari is late, I’m upset, and we need to bond. Let’s do something.”

“Commander Reyes, I feel that this may not be—” Her voice was lost to the sound of the ignition coming to life. Gabriel patted the front seat beside him, nudging his head. An invitation. With a defeated sigh she climbed forward and took the seat, buckling in tightly. “Please take care with your driving. I have an easily upset stomach.”

“Ah,” he said as he put the car into reverse. “No wonder Faheera was like an old granny driving to her weekly bingo meetup.”

“I apologise.”

“Don’t. It isn’t your fault.”

With a few turns and stopping to put a ticket into a machine they were out of the car park and onto the road with the other hover cars. Satya glanced out of the widow by her side, watching lazily as other cars passed them. “Exactly where do you plan on taking me so that we’d ‘bond’?”

Gabriel shrugged his shoulders. “Well first we’ll get out of the town, go to the airport, book some flights to America with some fake ID, take the body out of the trunk…” He looked over to see her horrified face, sniggering once he saw how wide her eyes were. “Relax, Vaswani. I’m just messing with you. Your girl texted me – she’s on the other side of town. She asked me to drive over there to collect her.”

He saw her shoulders drop down, easing herself. They didn’t speak for a few moments, the vibrations of the engine filling the quietness. To be quite frank; he had no idea what to talk to her about. And he was sure that it was vice versa. Though he could see that she was trying. Sometimes she’d turn her head and open her mouth but would quickly shut it again and go back to watching the road.

Eventually he had enough of it. “Speak now or forever hold your peace,” he said when she turned her head for the fifth time.

It took a second to compose herself. “You mentioned that you were upset.”

_Oh shit._ He had hoped that she would’ve overlooked that comment. He should’ve known better. Ana was right; she was pretty bright. Great memory, too. “I got a call from Morrison. To put it simply they’re in deep shit and might not be home for Christmas.”

“It’s unfortunate to hear that, Commander Reyes,” Satya said to him. There she went again with the Commander. “It must be difficult for you.”

“Yeah. You can say that.” He slowed the car to a stop at a pair of traffic lights. “What’s your favourite colour?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Favourite colour, Vaswani. We’re meant to be bonding.”

“Um, my favourite colour would be champagne-white but I—”

“Funny. I would’ve guessed blue from all the getup but hey that’s the purpose of this exercise.”

“Commander Reyes…”

“Next question. Favourite flower. You look like the type that likes rare flowers—”

“ _Gabriel_.”

That got his attention. He glanced to his side, wondering if she did indeed just referred to him by his first name. Despite the cutting air she had used her expression was soft. Wide eyes, eyebrows raised. Concerned. “You and McCree are very similar. When he is in an emotional conversation he too deflects them. He does it with jokes, you appear to do it with questions.” She looked down at her lap. “I understand that we don’t talk often. And I understand that you might not want to voice your troubles to me. However you are an important person in Faheera’s life and by extension you are important in mine whether you like it or not. I’m concerned for your wellbeing. This news has affected you in some way and I desperately wish that I can help you. Nevertheless if I do not clearly understand your emotions I cannot support you. I’m sorry for not being able to identify how you feel on my own and acting accordingly. That’s just the situation we find ourselves in.” There was a bit of hesitation before she continued; “I _want_ you to be able to tell me these things.”

Well.

He wasn’t expecting that.

Gabriel was frozen to the spot. So much so he didn’t realize the light before him had gone green midway through her speech. It was the sound of a horn behind him that snapped him out of his surprised trace. He moved the car forward. _Fucking hell what am I supposed to say to that?_ he thought to himself. This was obviously something she had been sitting on for a while now – no one just comes out with shit like that off the cuff. “Okay. I feel sad. And angry. And I don’t want to talk about it. Not because I dislike you or anything. It’s because I just don’t want to.” That was all he could come up with.

She nodded her head. “Very well. Thank you.”

Mercifully he caught sight of Faheera in the distance, so rolled down his window. “Get in, loser,” he called at her. “We’re done shopping.” From this distance he could see her smile at his reference, bounding towards them with bag in her hands. Last minute presents.

Just as Faheera opened the trunk, Satya cleared her throat. “The nelumbo,” she stated. “My favourite flower is the nelumbo. It’s a type of lotus. I’ll show you a picture of it when we get home if you’d like.”

Gabriel propped a hand against his door, leaning the side of his head on his knuckles. “Alright.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CAN YOU GUESS WHAT FAHEERA'S PRESENT IS??? CAN YOU????? The next chapter (which will come out faster I promise) will supply you guys with more Spiderbyte as promised! Along with Lenily and Zaryamei. It's the chapter of the lesbians and it's gonna be GREAT. 
> 
> If you have any questions or want to drop a comment feel free to do so here or on my Tumblr: http://thetallirishflower.tumblr.com/ Thank you for reading I hope you enjoyed!


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